Category Archives: Lifestyles
Steppin’ It Up at forum
The week of Feb. 1-4, nine members of the Steppin’ It Up Coalition of Pickens County attended the CADCA National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. Throughout the week, adult and youth representatives attended various classes to further educate themselves about issues such as marijuana, tobacco and other drugs as well as learning how to engage your audience in various ways such as through social media. There were five adults members and four youth members in attendance at the forum, including project director Cathy Breazeale, prevention specialist Jessica Gibson, Alexander Dukes of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County, Rev. Charles Hendricks, representing the law enforcement sector, Kay Hendricks representing the school sector and Skylar Grant, Ashley Clark, Makenzye Patterson and Ivy Johnson representing the Pickens County Youth Board.
The conference is held every year at the Gaylord National Hotel in National Harbor, Md. For more information about Steppin’ It Up Coalition or how you can become involved, call Breazeale at (864) 898-5800.
Eating, right?
Monday morning, I had an appointment with Dr. Matthew Roberson for my checkup.
It turns out I’m doing fine. My blood pressure was normal, despite missing taking my medicine for a few days. My arm seems to have healed, though I am still typing one-handed. I was not that great at typing in the first place, so it has not affected my speed.
The main problem was with my weight, which was up a few pounds from last appointment. That’s bad, because I had told my doctor I was going to try to lose a few pounds. But it was sunny, and frankly I was not eating well back then. Now we’ve recovered from the first snow storm of the year, and I’m finding myself eating anything that does not try to eat me first.
The pounds have come on, and frankly I need to stop them. My goal was to get down to a normal, healthy weight, and if I keep adding a few pounds when I’m supposed to be losing a few pounds, I will never accomplish that.
The doctor suggested I try to eat more vegetables, and I don’t think he was including French fries as a vegetable. The problem is I really don’t like vegetables, and I refuse to eat any of them. Sure, eating just meat makes me more like a bear than a human, but I will survive.
He suggested I try to exercise more. I don’t believe he considers walking into the kitchen as real exercise, although my hands are usually full when I leave the room.
He also suggested I eat more fruits, but be careful because some fruits have natural sweeteners that can cause calorie problems.
My exercise options are no longer limited now that the snow has melted. I can walk my driveway daily and add a quarter of a mile to my exercise plan. I can go to the local recreation fields and play basketball, if I don’t get too worried about somebody watching me and noticing how many shots I miss.
So I need to eat better. Everything seems to have an asterisk beside it. For example, I’m told that popcorn has no calories, but then they add, “as long as you don’t load it with butter topping.” In my opinion, popcorn is no good if it does not slide out of your hand.
But we need to lose the weight. We may start to enjoy living again, so I need to make arrangements to do it as long as possible.
Garden Club celebrates 90 years in Pickens
Members of the Pickens Garden Club celebrated the club’s 90th birthday on Feb. 2. Pictured, front row, from left, are Donna Garrett, Cyndi Banks, Ann Bowen, Anne Hall, Pam Jones and Pam Martin. Back row: Ann Day, Katherine Gitto, Helen Ruth Thibodeaux, Cindy Wood, Dyanna Wise, Lucy Ward and Mary Hardin.
By Pamela Dodson
Staff Reporter
pdodson@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — For nearly a century, the Pickens Garden Club has helped beautify Pickens County.
On Feb. 2, the club celebrated its 90th birthday at the Pickens Library with a rose-themed party.
The club maintains the rose garden of the Hagood-Mauldin House and over the years has sponsored fundraising events for the Village Library, Cannon Memorial Hospital and the Hagood-Mauldin House and Museum. The club also sponsors a youth’s attendance at Camp Wildwood, Holly Springs Elementary School’s Youth Garden Club and participates in the Pickens Azalea Festival, with a plant and bake sale.
In 1926, a group of eight ladies met in Miss Elinor Knight’s music room under the bell tower of Pickens High School to organize a Pickens Garden Club. Knight served as president for 20 years, until her death in 1946. Under her supervision, the garden club did much work, beautifying not only the town, but also the highway into Pickens.
Sixteen years later, the club was divided into two groups, and Pickens has had two active clubs since that time — the Better Homes and Garden Club and the Pickens Garden Club. The Pickens Garden Club was federated in 1951. It actually existed before there was a state garden club.
Throughout the years, magnolia trees have been planted to commemorate the birth of a child to a club member. In memory of deceased members, a book is presented to the local library on either birds or horticulture. On Arbor Day, the club plants trees at a local school or community building in Pickens County.
During the celebration, 13 of the club’s 19 current members enjoyed a program on roses and watched a special PowerPoint presentation about the history of the club. Each lady was presented a long-stemmed red rose during the event.
For more information on becoming a member of the Pickens Garden Club, visit the club’s booth at the Pickens Azalea Festival in April.
Clemson Downs donates to Tri-County Foundation
Clemson Downs recently made a $1,000 donation to Tri-County Technical College’s Foundation to establish a scholarship for an associate degree nursing student in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties. Dr. John LeHeup, executive director of Clemson Downs, fourth from left, presented Tri-County Technical College President Ronnie L. Booth, third from left, with the check. Also pictured are, from left, Debbie Nelms, fiscal analyst for Tri-County’s Foundation; Barbara Huss, administrator at Clemson Downs; Grayson Kelly, executive director of Tri-County’s Foundation; Dr. Lynn Lewis, dean of Tri-County’s Health Education Division; and Courtney White, director of development at the college.
Sheriff to speak at taxpayers meeting Feb. 23
PICKENS — Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark will be the speaker at the Pickens County Taxpayers Association meeting on Feb. 23 at the Rural Water District Building on U.S. Highway 178 between Pickens and Liberty
Courier Community Calendar 2-10-16
• Cannon to offer Wellness Wednesdays
Cannon Memorial Hospital will be offering a February Wednesday Wellness Special at the Cannon Annex each week in February from 7 a.m.-10 a.m. No appointment or doctor’s order needed. Participants can receive a discounted lipid panel for $15 (regularly $24) with results back within a week. Free blood pressure screenings are also available. For more information, contact Wellness at (864) 898-1331.
• Camp Creek moves Sunday services
Camp Creek Baptist Church will move its Sunday service to the Rosewood Center in Liberty for the next few weeks. The move is temporary due to the remodeling of the church’s sanctuary. AWANA clubs will still be held at the church in Central as usual, in the fellowship hall on Wednesday nights.
• Pickens Lions plan meetings each month
The Pickens Lions Club is in need of new members. The club meets the first and third Thursday of every month at Pizza Inn in Pickens. Dinner begins at 6:40 p.m., and the meeting starts at 7 p.m. Meetings are open to anyone interested in joining the club or simply finding out more about the club and how it serves Pickens.
• Classes offered at Hagood Center
New Fiber Room Center activities at the Hagood Center in Pickens have been scheduled for February.
Below is a list of the center’s regular activities:
Monday: 10-11:30 a.m. — cathedral window quilts with Jacquie.
Tuesday: 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. — weaving with Pat; 9-11:30 a.m. — doll clothes with Jacquie; 10-11:30 a.m. — yo-yos with Irene and prayer shawls and cancer caps with Sharon (in the library). Wednesday: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. — weaving with Pat (in the heritage room); 10-11:30 a.m. — knitting with Tally.
Thursday: 10-11:30 a.m. quilting with Sara; 1:30-3:30 p.m. — rug hooking with Cheryl.
• Concert planned at Lawrence Chapel
A piano concert will be held at Lawrence Chapel UMC on Sunday, Feb. 14. The concert will begin at 10:30 a.m. and feature professional pianists Susan Buckley Cumbie and Rich Blough.
• PHS class of 1956 set to hold reunion
The Pickens High School Class of 1956 is planning a reunion for April 9. It will be a dutch lunch at The Gatehouse Restaurant at the corner of Ann and Griffin Streets in Pickens. It will begin at noon. Make your reservations by calling Allison Dalton at (864) 859-4396, Marie Welborn at (864) 878-9124 or Tunkie Stokes at (864) 878-6101.
• East Side Baptist plans fishing clinic
East Side Baptist Church is hosting a free bass fishing clinic on Saturday, March 12, at 1 p.m. The speaker will be Bassmaster Terry Chupp. East Side is located at 920 Anderson Drive in Liberty. For more information, call the church office at (864) 843-6481.
Clemson sets public meeting about creek cleanup efforts
CENTRAL — The Clemson Cooperative Extension and more than a dozen partners have scheduled the first of several stakeholder meetings for the Twelve Mile, Eighteen Mile and Golden Creek Watershed Plan, which is being devised to clean up bacteria pollution in three major Pickens County watercourses.
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The public is invited to the meeting, which will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday at the Bryant Lodge on the campus of Southern Wesleyan University.
Through a combination of onsite visits, spatial data analysis and laboratory research, the plan’s developers have been studying ways to improve the water quality of the well-known creeks, all of which have been found to be impaired by monitoring agents with S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“We all want better quality water resources,” said Cal Sawyer, associate director of the Center for Watershed Excellence at Clemson University. “By attending and actively participating in the upcoming public meeting, local citizens can help improve the accuracy of the information we’re compiling and engage in the process of solving the persistent pollution problems in the affected watersheds.”
The agenda will include an introduction by Rocky Nation, professor of biology and chair of the Science Division at Southern Wesleyan. This will be followed by overviews of the watershed planning process by Sawyer and cohort Jeremy Pike, associate scientist in Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences. There will also be a question-and-answer session, and refreshments will be provided.
The Twelve Mile, Eighteen Mile and Golden Creek watersheds, which eventually drain into Hartwell Lake, comprise more than 69,000 acres in the Piedmont area of South Carolina. Development of the plan began in September and will continue through August. It will take subsequent years to implement it.
For more information, visit sites.google.com/site/clemsonwatershed.
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Bigham named junior mortgage loan officer at bank
SENECA — South State Bank has announced Rhonda Bigham has been named junior mortgage loan officer as an assistant to Allen White in the bank’s Seneca office.
With 17 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Bigham has worked with public and privately held companies, including real estate law and lending.
South State Corporation is the largest bank holding company headquartered in South Carolina. Founded in 1933, the company’s primary subsidiary, South State Bank, has been serving the financial needs of its local communities in 24 South Carolina counties, 13 Georgia counties and four North Carolina counties for more than 80 years.
The bank also operates Minis & Co. Inc. and First Southeast 401K Fiduciaries Inc., both registered investment advisors; and First Southeast Investor Services Inc., a limited purpose broker-dealer. South State Corporation has assets of approximately $8.6 billion, and its stock is traded under the symbol SSB on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. More information can be found at SouthStateBank.com.
Pickens Recreation now taking baseball, softball registrations
PICKENS — Baseball and softball registrations are being taken now through Feb. 19 at the Pickens Recreation Center on Sangamo Road in Pickens.
The following age divisions are offered: instructional (coed) — 4 year olds; tee ball/coaches pitch (coed) — 5-6 year olds; pitching machine (coed) — 7-8 year olds; boys baseball minors — 9-10 year olds; boys baseball O-zone — 11-12 year olds; boys baseball boys — 13-14 year olds; boys baseball majors — 15-19 year olds; girls softball darlings — 7-8 year olds; girls softball angels — 9-10 year olds; girls softball ponytails — 11-12 year olds; girls softball belles — 13-15 year olds.
Following registration, a skills/evaluation day will be held for each age division.
The registration fee provides a jersey and cap for each player. The fee is $45 for in-city residents and $55 for out-of-city residents.
For tee ball, pitching machine and baseball, league age is that age attained by the participant prior to May 1, 2016. Birthdate for girls’ softball is their age as of Dec. 31, 2015. Birth certificates are required at registration.
If you are interested in coaching or need additional information, call the Recreation Department at 878-2296.
Local team wins tourney
The Carolina One 12 Regional Black Pickens Team captured its second tournament of the season on Jan. 30 at the Carolina One Volleyball Challenge held at the Upward Volleyball Center in Spartanburg. Of the 20 12-and-under teams competing, “Fire” finished first in gold again without losing a single set. In pool play action, with teams starting at six points, “Fire” defeated C1 12 State Pickens 25-10, 25-10; Excel U12 Club 25-17, 25-16; Lake Murray 12 Black 25-12, 25-11; and Rock Hill Volleyball Club 12 Brooke 25-12, 25-17. The squad won over C1 12 Royal Pickens in the one-game semifinals of Gold 25-9 before ousting C1 12 Greenville 25-13, 25-15 in the finals. Serving leaders for “Fire” were Maggie Sizemore and Lauren Dow, with 100 percent serving out of 22 and 21 serves respectively. Ali Pace had 25 aces, Sky Moorrees had 18, including seven in the finals, and Bailee Earnhardt added 14, including eight in the finals. Calie Covey and Megan Carpenter led the attack with 13 kills each, with six of Covey’s coming in the final match. Assist leaders were Dow with 16, Earnhardt with nine and Regan Powell with six. Hannah Campbell, Amber Chapman and Alison Yates also played very well.
